Injured for almost 2 months, am I too late?

Had my best high-school 1600 ever after a bad winter of zero training for 2-3 months due to medical and motivational issues. Started the outdoor season completely out of shape (5:00 in March) and finished with a 4:18 in May. If you have the history under your belt, a couple of months of racing can get you back there... at least, it was true at age 16. Today, at 42, such comebacks are tougher.

sloflash wrote:

Had my best high-school 1600 ever after a bad winter of zero training for 2-3 months due to medical and motivational issues. Started the outdoor season completely out of shape (5:00 in March) and finished with a 4:18 in May. If you have the history under your belt, a couple of months of racing can get you back there... at least, it was true at age 16. Today, at 42, such comebacks are tougher.

Wow man, that's great to know, thank you!!

What was your PR the year before?

I strongly disagree. You'll be lucky if you run as well as last year. Talent will only get you so far.

grit runner wrote:

I strongly disagree. You'll be lucky if you run as well as last year. Talent will only get you so far.

Who said anything about talent, I trained pretty hard last year.

3 months is a lot of time. As long as your Hamstring is back to 100% you should be able to do it. I always drop like 30 seconds off of my mile (which we run like 3 weeks before our first meet) in my first race

heyim wrote:

sloflash wrote:

Had my best high-school 1600 ever after a bad winter of zero training for 2-3 months due to medical and motivational issues. Started the outdoor season completely out of shape (5:00 in March) and finished with a 4:18 in May. If you have the history under your belt, a couple of months of racing can get you back there... at least, it was true at age 16. Today, at 42, such comebacks are tougher.

Wow man, that's great to know, thank you!!

What was your PR the year before?

PR the year before (soph) was 4:23, with other races between 4:29-4:45. After the down winter junior year, the toughest part was not getting too discouraged when the first couple of races at 5:00 felt sooo awful. Once basic fitness returned and I began to get familiar with running at speed again, the times dropped every week, steadily progressing from 5:00 down to 4:18.

In some ways, I felt like the late start and low mileage that year helped me stay fresh mentally and peak strongly at the end of the season. Everyone's situation is different, of course, but I think you have time to give it a solid shot.

You are best to race your way into shape, let your training work on your race weaknesses not vice versa.

Any stories anyone?

Oh I've got a few lol.

Have had many long injuries lasting several months. I'm 22 now and have spent more time injured than training since I started competing.

I still have respectable PBs and have a few nice achievements to look back on already.

Looking back at when I was around your age 17/18 I had a knee injury all of October, November then again through half of December, Jan, Feb.

I started training again and ran a race in mid March - 2:05.7. I finished dead last.

I thought running was over for me. I was 18 years old struggling to break 2:06 when I had run 1:59 at 15.

Fast forward two months of quality training; didn't rush things with big sessions but just doing as much steady running as I could, going to the gym to properly stretch and lift weights (help my knee), cross training to not put too much stress on my knee and introduced some track sessions to get my speed up.

Mid May I ran 1:58.0. Was pretty disappointed as I thought training was going well. I finished really far down the field also. Looking back, I should have been encouraged to be running well after a long bout of injury.

Two weeks later in early June - big PB of 1:55.0 winning the race.

You aren't too late for anything. I hope this gives you some reassurance.

Thank you. Who knows

Wow man that's awesome. Must be an amazing feeling to do that.

Yeah I ran 2:00 flat last year so, this seems relatable. I'm glad to hear how you did after all this. Who knows what I'll do. THX

Hamstrings are notoriously slow to heal and are prone to reinjury especially if you have had previous hamstring injuries

If you are back to your previous mileage already in my opinion you are pushing yourself a little too hard. Your runs should be at a very easy pace at this point where your hamstring is at it's greatest risk is when you start incorporating speed and sprint training.

During the track season minimize your racing in needless meets concentrate on your qualifier and hopefully the state championships.

The slightest aggravation of your injury will probably end your season before it even starts.

Big reality check. Thank you so much. I'm going to save this post and be extra careful. Yeah no dual meets for me.